In many ink-jet printers, a printhead is held by a carriage assembly, typically mounted on a carriage rod. The carriage assembly slides back and forth across the carriage rod, placing the printhead in position to emit ink onto a print media. The carriage rod is typically a metal-Nickel plated rod mounted on a sheet metal backbone within the printer. It typically takes four parts to mount a carriage rod on a sheet metal backbone. It is desirable to reduce the number and complexity of parts in order to reduce the cost of manufacturing.